We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Chima Lubin a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Chima , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

After leaving my job as a Clinical Director at a Juvenile Detention Center, I took a major leap of faith in starting my own private practice as a mental health therapist. At first, it was a dream. Honestly, I thought it was just going to be a dream and not a reality. It was pretty nerve wrecking and scary because I was use to the security of a 9-5 job. In my case, it was often 10-11 hour days depending on the level of crisis during the day. I was in a hostile work environment that propelled me in making the choice in starting my own practice. As a result of the micro-aggression’s and trauma I’ve experienced working there. I’ve made a personal vow to never work for anyone else again within a mental health agency again. I wanted to do more for the teens I served and being an employee restricted me from that opportunity of providing the type of care I believe they deserved. With no money at the time, I took a big risk in looking for office spaces, inquiring about prices. I posted within Facebook groups of clinicians and inquired about anyone renting their office space. Lo and behold I received a call from a private practice owner who once interviewed me for one of her therapist positions. She called and informed me that she had space available. Her price was within the reasonable price range for me starting out and I was amazed. Along with starting out, I started working for different group private practices as a contract therapist until I was able to build my own clientele. Three years ago, I finally felt comfortable enough to take a leap and rent my own office space to see my own clients. Now here I am, fully on my own, no longer needing to be working for anyone.

Chima , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am the CEO and founder of the private practice  called Kabod Counseling, helping teens and families to heal one at a time that provid’s both individual and family counseling services to teen girls and their families. I am a licensed marriage and family therapist in both the state of New York and Florida. Also, I am  a certified clinical trauma professional, an EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing), and trauma-informed therapist who specializes in working with adolescent girls & young adult women that have a history of trauma. As a consultant, I partner with organizations to develop and facilitate workshops and trainings related to mental health areas.

But at the core, I am all about providing a safe space for young girls and women to embrace their true authentic self, voice, and identity. I help teen girls navigate their past to create a brighter future. It is brings me complete joy seeing people thrive from attachment, childhood and relational trauma. Growing up in foster care, being placed in several different psychiatric groups homes and residential facilities, along with growing up in a family environment that was volatile, has birthed a passion in me for psychology and neuroscience. I want to give back and provide the appropriate care to teens that need a space and voice to support them in their transitions to adulthood. I am most proud of being name and recognized as the medical practice of the year in 2022.  Being noticed for the work kabod counseling has done throughout the community is humbling.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

Several things, I believe has helped to build my reputation as an expert in the field is finding my niche, true voice, and being my authentic self. Showing up on social media platforms doing facebook and instagram lives discussing topics that I am passionate about concerning teen mental health has helped a great deal. Providing relevant resources during the pandemic has expanded my reach as well. I used those times of crisis to be intentional about stepping out to create relevant content that provided resources to assist people in times of turbulence.

Training and knowledge matter of course, but beyond that what do you think matters most in terms of succeeding in your field?

Putting God first. He is the CEO of my business and without him, I will have no business or success. Having support from other clinicians who are able to support with consultation is crucial. We are all interdependent, whether we like it or not. We need each other, so collaborating and partnering with other clinicians and community partners is crucial. We all have blindspots and we need people in our lives to help us readjust by asking the hard question’s, bounce ideas off of or to propel us forward in places where there is stagnancy.

Ever so often, I make sure to take time away from social media and slow life way down to re-evaluate and get clarity of where I am and who I am, currently as an individual. I realize that as a person, I am always changing. Change is constant and in order to be successful I must take time to evaluate, reassess and make the adjustments necessary needed for success. It’s absolutely imperative that as clinicians or business owner’s to take intentional time away to rest and slow things down to assess where you are physically, emotionally and mentally. It’s crucial as a helping professional to make yourself a priority in terms of taking care of yourself because burn out is a real thing and it better to be preventative than reactive when it comes to your wellness.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.kabodcounseling.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kabodcounseling/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kabodcounseling
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chima-lubin-lmft-31bb7834/